Apparatus for the wrapping of a bundle of newspapers

ABSTRACT

The bundle of papers are pressed together under the action of a reciprocally mounted press tongue. The press tongue is pressed onto the bundle as the bundle is enveloped by the plastic sheeting and remains there until the sheeting has cooled. Thereafter, the press tongue is removed to allow the bundle to expand against the plastic sheeting.

United States Patent Jens Thomsen Jepsen Gyvelvey 5, Hjerting, Denmark [21] Appl. No. 812,810

[72] Inventor [22] Filed Apr. 2,1969 [45] Patented Sept. 14, 1971 [32] Priority Apr. 4, 1968 [33] Denmark [31] 1479/68 [54] APPARATUS FOR THE WRAPPING OF A BUNDLE 0F NEWSPAPERS 1 Claim, 1 Drawing Fig.

[52] US. Cl 53/124 C, 53/124 D, 53/209, 93/36.9 [51] Int. Cl ..B65b 13/20, B65b 11/10, B3lb1/72 [50] Field of Search 53/24, 124, 209; 93/36.9

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,889,672 6/1959 Anderson 53/33 3,351,185 11/1967 Blumer 206/60 3,491,657 1/1970 Feigel 93/369 2,715,861 8/1955 Jacobsen. 93/369 X 2,768,489 10/1956 Brown 53/124 (C) 2,787,941 4/1957 Aldrich 93/369 X 2,788,079 4/1957 Allison 93/369 X 2,979,871 4/1961 Kieckhefer. 53/24 X 3,253,379 5/1966 Foradora..... 53/24 X 3,407,562 10/1968 Di Nicola 53/24 3,429,095 2/1969 Huson 53/24 3,475,879 11/1969 Merkel 53/24 X FOREIGN PATENTS 886,570 1/1962 Great Britain 53/124 (C) Primary Examiner-Wayne A. Morse, .Ir. Attorney-Kenyon & Kenyon ABSTRACT: The bundle of papers are pressed together under the action of a reciprocally mounted press tongue. The press tongue is pressed onto the bundle as the bundle is enveloped by the plastic sheeting and remains there until the sheeting has cooled. Thereafter, the press tongue is removed to allow the bundle to expand against the plastic sheeting.

PATENTEU SEPI 41971 INVENTOR JEN-5 7: JEPSEN APPARATUS FOR THE WRAPPING OF A BUNDLE F NEWSPAPERS The present invention relates to an apparatus for the wrapping of a pile of goods, particularly a bundle of newspapers in plastic sheeting. Heret'ofore, in order to dispatch materials in bundles, for instance newspapers, it was formerly common to keep each bundle together by means of a piece of string. However, such a bundle naturally is not protected against moisture, and intruders are in a'po'sition to remove objects from the bundle unless cross-laced. Accordingly, in order to obviate these drawbacks, thebundles have of late been wrapped in plastic sheeting which is welded together and thereafter are passed through a so-called'shrinkage tunnel, where the sheeting is heated for instance by means of hot air in such a manner, that the plastic filmvshrinks and adheres tightly to the bundle.

If the bundles contain newspapers they may,.however; be pressed together too much. This compression takes place simultaneously with the'shrinking of the sheeting. If the pressure is released immediately after the sheeting has been heated, the bundle will again expand somewhat, and as the sheeting is soft for a while, the sheeting will follow the expansion immediately after the shrinkage.

The sheeting must, therefore, be cooled while the'bundle is still compressed. This cooling may take place either in a particular cooling zone, such that the apparatus used will'becorne very extensive, or in the shrinkage zone, which causes a reduction of the capacity of the apparatus.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus, by means of which the above drawbacks are obviated.

Briefly, the present invention provides a compression means to press a bundle of goods such as a pile of newspapers together while a plastic sheeting is wrapped about the bundle. This means further cooperates with the apparatus for wrapping the bundle with plastic sheeting, i.e.,v which comprises a supply roller, from which the sheeting hangs down,

conveyor devices for conveying the pile under and past thesupply roller, by which the sheeting hanging down is conveyed under and in front of the pile, and welding and cutting devices for welding together the sheeting wrapped round the pile and, for instance, for cutting the welding seam to release'thesame from the sheeting hanging down.

The compression means to press the pile is characterized by being reciprocally movable above the pile, and. by being introduced between the sheeting and the pile. Thus, the compression means may be freely introduced between the sheeting and the top side of the pile.

As the part of the sheetingexposed to the pressure from the bundle, when the compressing means are removed, is not heated and yielding, it is by the apparatus according. to the invention unnecessary to cool the sheeting, while the bundle is still compressed.

By the apparatus according to the invention it is naturally possible to shrink projecting ends of the sheeting, so that same is tightened about the ends of the bundle.

The invention will now be explained in further details with reference to the drawing, in which an embodiment of an apparatus according to theinvention is shown schematically.

As shown in the drawing, the apparatus comprises two conveyors l0 and 20, on which bundles of newspapers A are moved in the direction of the arrows in the drawing thus from the right to the left. Above the space between the conveyors is located a supply roller 2 for a sheeting l, which suitably charged is hanging down into the space. The sheeting] is led past the side facing the direction of travel by means of guide idlers 3 and 5, one of which is located. in the space and on a level with the transporting lengths of the conveyors l0 and 20, while the other idler is located vertically above at a distance somewhat greater than the height of the bundle of newspapers. By the side of the guide idlers 3, 5 there are in the direction of travel of the bundle of newspapers welding and cutting devices consisting of an upper and a lower horizontal welding rail 7 and8, which may be moved vertically for facing each other. The width of the welding rails is at least equal to that of thesheeting.

In addition, a device which may be reciprocating moved above the bundle of newspapers is mounted above the-conveyors in the form of a feeding roller 4, which is in one of its extreme positions above the first' conveyor 10, bu t-may'be moved to the left under the upper guide idler 3 and the welding rail 7 to another extreme position, where the feeding roller is in the direction of travel in front of the bundle of newspapers A when same has passed'the welding devices. By the side of and above the bundle of newspapers A in this position there are means for the compression of the bundle. These means which are not further shown in the drawing include a press tongue 6 which is first introduced from the side between that-part of the sheeting which is between the guide idler 3'and the feeding roller 4 in-its other extreme position and the bundle of newspapers A. The press tongue 6 may then be moved vertically downwards against the bundle of newspapers, and from the lower position the means may be moved horizontally tothe side of the conveyor 20'and from here upwards to the start position. The means for the compression of the bundle of newspapers may for instance beof any other suitable structure OPERATION A bundle of newspapersis placed on the conveyor 10, while the conveyor is out ofoperation. Then both conveyors l0-and 20 are activated, so that the-bundle of newspapers is moved to the left inthe drawing. When the'bundle of newspapers passes the guide idler 5, thefront side of the bundle will catch the sheeting l' hanging'down from the feeding roller 4, as the feeding roller 4 is hereby in its left extreme position shown fully drawnup in-the drawing.

When the bundle of newspapers reaches the position A to the left inthe drawing with the rear edge of the bundle just conveyed past the vertical track of motion of the welding rails the conveyors wand 20 are stopped, and the press tongue 6 is from the side introduced between the sheeting l and the top side of the bundle. The press tongue 6 is then moved downwards so that the bundle is pressed together. The feeding roller 4' is simultaneously led to its right extreme position.

The two welding rails 7 and 8 are then led together, by which they catch the sheeting, so that the sheeting is now completely wrapped'round the bundle. The sheeting is welded by pressing the welding rails 7 and 8 together and heating them. At the same time the welding seam is cut longitudinally, so that the part of the sheeting surrounding the bundle is released from the length of the sheeting while still continuous.

As the sheeting is now welded round the bundle of newspapers and on account of'a heating is not yielding, the press tongue may now at once be carried horizontally out to the side. The bundle of newspapers is now only held together by the sheeting.

When the press tongue has been carriedaway from the bundle A the conveyors 10- and 20 may again be activated. Duringthewelding a next bundle has been placed on the conveyor 10, and this bundle willbe moved to the left and the wrapped bundle A at the same time removed from the apparatus. The wrapped bundle may after the sheeting has been welded pass shrinkage devices where hot air is led to the sides of the pile, so that the loose ends of the sheeting. are tightened round the sides of the bundle.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for wrapping a pile of goods in plastic sheeting comprising a. supply roller of plastic sheeting positioned to permit a length of plastic sheeting to hand therefrom;

conveyor means for conveying a pile of goods under and past said supply roller intothe plane of said length of plastic sheeting to position saidlength of plastic sheeting under and in front of the pile of goods;

compression means including a vertically movable press tongue for compressing said pile, said press tongue being positioned above said conveyor for disposition against the pile of goods and being insertable and removable from between the pile of goods and said lengthof sheeting after welding of said portion together; and

first means for bringing two spaced-apart portions of said length of sheeting together at the rear of the pile of goods with the remainder of the length of sheeting between said portion being wrapped about the pile of goods and said press tongue, said first means including a feeding roller for disposing a portion of said length of sheeting over said press tongue and the pile of goods compressed thereby, and a pair of welding and cutting devices for moving vertically into facing and pressing relation relative to the goods and to each other over the height of the pile of goods for welding said portions together and for cutting said welded portion from said supply roller to effect a wrapping of the pile of goods while under compression from said press tongue, said devices including a pair of vertically movable welding rails of a width at least equal to the width of the plastic sheeting. 

1. Apparatus for wrapping a pile of goods in plastic sheeting comprising a supply roller of plastic sheeting positioned to permit a length of plastic sheeting to hand therefrom; conveyor means for conveying a pile of goods under and past said supply roller into the plane of said length of plastic sheeting to position said length of plastic sheeting under and in front of the pile of goods; compression means including a vertically movable press tongue for compressing said pile, said press tongue being positioned above said conveyor for disposition against the pile of goods and being insertable and removable from between the pile of goods and said length of sheeting after welding of said portion together; and first means for bringing two spaced-apart portions of said length of sheeting together at the rear of the pile of goods with the remainder of the length of sheeting between said portion being wrapped about the pile of goods and said press tongue, said first means including a feeding roller for disposing a portion of said length of sheeting over said press tongue and the pile of goods compressed thereby, and a pair of welding and cutting devices for moving vertically into facing and pressing relation relative to the goods and to each other over the height of the pile of goods for welding said portions together and for cutting said welded portion from said supply roller to effect a wrapping of the pile of goods while under compression from said press tongue, said devices including a pair of vertically movable welding rails of a width at least equal to the width of the plastic sheeting. 